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Only 1,150 Ohioans signed up for health coverage through the federal government’s online
marketplace during its first month of operation, falling far short of early forecasts.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the numbers yesterday.

The federal government had forecast in an internal memo that 13,300 Ohioans would sign up in
October, the first month that HealthCare.gov was operational.

Nationwide, 26,794 people in Ohio and 35 other states that are using the federally run
marketplace signed up through Nov. 2.

About three times as many people — at least 79,391 — signed up in the 16 states and the District
of Columbia that are running their own marketplaces, raising total nationwide enrollment to at
least 106,185.

Only partial data were available for some states that are operating their own marketplaces.

The federal government had expected nearly 500,000 people to enroll by the end of October, and
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said enrollment is expected to grow “
substantially” over the next five months, peaking in December (as the Jan. 1 requirement for
coverage approaches) and in the weeks before March 31 (when open enrollment ends).

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Sebelius acknowledged that people who visited
HealthCare.gov in the first part of October typically had an “enormously frustrating”
experience.

The federal government this week plans to begin reaching out via email to 275,000 people who had
trouble creating an account at HealthCare.gov in its first days of operation.

By comparison, Kentucky, which has been heralded as an example of a successful state-run
exchange, enrolled 5,586 people, nearly five times the number of people who enrolled in Ohio. The
federal government had expected Kentucky to enroll 15,400 people in October.

An additional 396,261 U.S. residents were determined to be eligible for Medicaid and the
Children’s Health Insurance Program during the first month of enrollment.

According to the data, 34,374 Ohioans were found to be eligible to enroll in a marketplace plan.
Slightly more than one-third of them — 11,866 — would be eligible for tax credits to help pay for
premiums or for cost-sharing subsidies.